Pizza is a true passion for Italians. One they can hardly give up. There are many who put themselves to the test in their home kitchen by experimenting with new doughs or relying on family recipes perfected over the years.
However, in order to make tasty and fragrant pizzas, like the ones you eat in a restaurant, it is necessary to have a home pizza oven that is capable of reaching high temperatures that range around 450°- 500° C.
The reason being is that the pizza dough needs the so-called “heat blast” so as to swell and cook perfectly in just a few minutes.
There are numerous home pizza ovens on the market with different features: they can be portable, light and not too bulky, fueled by wood or gas, capable of cooking one or more pizzas at the same time.
Since there are so many options available, it’s important to find the solution that best suits your needs.
Let’s then discover what features to look for and take into account when choosing the best pizza oven for your home. In this article, we will see:
- How to choose a pizza oven
– Design
– Size
– Type of fuel - The best oven for making pizzas
– Easy to install
– Efficient
– Safe to use
– Equipped with custom accessories - How much a home pizza oven costs
How to choose a pizza oven
As the warm season arrives, outdoor spaces begin to be taken care of. Perhaps by setting up an area dedicated to the outdoor kitchen to be used to comfortably organize dinners with family and friends.
It goes without saying that choosing a good oven is essential in order to create a wide variety of recipes with excellent results, based on the flair and needs of the moment.
But before starting your search for a home pizza oven you need to establish what your needs are in terms of space and habits in the kitchen.
Well then, how do we go about choosing a pizza oven? 3 elements need to be taken into consideration:
- Design
- Size
- Type of fuel
Let’s have a look at these in detail.
1. Design
When you are about to buy a new oven for garden pizzas, it is important to choose a style that is capable of integrating with the other furnishings already present outdoors.
In addition to being equipped with excellent thermal efficiency, modern domestic ovens offer refined and impactful designs that allow you to easily find a place both in the garden and on the terrace, thus completing the outdoor area dedicated to dinners and barbecues.
Alfa, to this end, has developed 3 lines of ovens, each with its own style, capable of adapting to various contexts, combined by the best of ‘Made in Italy’ in terms of design, the technology implemented and the materials used.
The Alfa lines are:
- The Moderno line, ideal for younger and dynamic contexts which includes the ovens: 1 pizza model, Ciao, Brio and Allegro.
- The Classico line, with its traditional shapes which includes: 5 Minuti, 4 Pizze and Dolce Vita.
- The Futuro line, where innovation and essential design have given life to the Stone Oven characterized by a stainless steel arch on the front with a minimal style.
The attention to design enables Alfa pizza ovens to be integrated both in spaces that recall the past and in environments characterized by a more modern style, consistently managing to capture the guests’ attention and to enhance the work of the pizza chef.
The latter feature makes them particularly suitable for those who enjoy organising cooking show evenings at home to entertain friends.
2. Sizes
Once you have identified your style, it is essential to understand how many pizzas you need to cook, so that you can choose the oven with the most suitable size for your needs.
In fact, the ideal model is one that manages to combine the right size of the cooking chamber and the available space.
You can find a wide range of ovens of various sizes on the market. Some models, like the Dolce Vita by Alfa, can cook simultaneously up to 4 pizzas to savour all together.
Choosing the largest oven isn’t necessarily the best solution: if you usually cook for a few people it would be pointless to spend more time and fuel in order to reach, and maintain, the desired temperature.
In this case, it makes sense to focus on smaller and compact models, capable of reaching 500°C in a short time, which can perfectly cook a pizza in 90 seconds, like the 1 pizza model by Alfa.
3. Type of fuel
When one thinks of a home pizza oven, the first model that comes to mind is undoubtedly the traditional wood-burning oven. However, this is not the only solution on the market.
In fact, depending on the type of fuel supply, you can find:
- Wood-burning ovens
- Gas ovens
- Hybrid ovens
Let’s have a look at these in detail.
Wood-burning pizza ovens
In this case the fuel used to heat the oven is wood, which burns directly in the cooking chamber and is moved to one side when the oven is ready to cook the various dishes.
This type of oven is not only ideal for cooking pizzas, but it is also perfect for baking bread and roasts.
It’s through lengthy cooking, in fact, that wood releases all its unmistakable aroma, capable of enhancing even the simplest of dishes.
This category includes the following Alfa ovens: Nano, Ciao, Allegro, 5 Minuti and 4 Pizze.
Gas Pizza Ovens
This type of fuel supply is among the most sought after, thanks to the practicality in managing the oven.
It’s easy to turn on, you simply need to turn a knob, and its simple to clean as there is no ash to remove. Gas pizza ovens can reach high temperatures in a short time without effort.
The fuel source can be a classic gas connection from your home or an LPG or methane cylinder.
The latter solution is particularly comfortable because it allows you to easily move the oven to any area of the garden or terrace.
If you’re concerned that purchasing this type of oven will give you less tasty pizzas, as opposed to wood-burning ovens, don’t worry!
In fact, the few seconds required to cook a pizza are not enough to ensure that the dough captures the scent of wood.
The models proposed by Alfa that can be fueled by gas are: Nano, Brio, Dolce Vita and Stone Oven.
Hybrid pizza ovens
If you can’t decide between the charm of wood and the undisputed practicality of a gas oven, there is a third solution studied and patented by Alfa: the Hybrid Kit thanks to which Alfa ovens can be fueled by either gas or wood according to your needs.
The Hybrid Kit consists of two elements:
- A cover to be placed over the gas burner, so as to protect it when using wood
- A wood protector
The advantages of using a hybrid oven are numerous in that the possibility of choosing the type of fuel, from time to time, can offer different culinary opportunities, and it is also useful so as to never run out of fuel.
The hybrid Alfa ovens, which can be powered by both wood and gas, are: Brio, Dolce Vita and Stone Oven.
Which is the best oven to make pizzas?
We have seen how many of the characteristics that determine the best pizza oven at home are associated with the use that each person intends to make of the instrument.
Nevertheless, a well-designed and well-made instrument must make the job easier and improve the cooking experience, which is why the best oven for making pizzas needs to be:
- Easy to install
- Efficient
- Safe to use
- Equipped with tailor-made accessories
Let’s have a look in detail.
Easy to install
Modern home pizza ovens can be installed quickly, without carrying out special masonry work as was the case with old wood-burning ovens.
For example, Alfa ovens are ready to use: simply remove the protective packaging and place them directly in the garden or on the terrace without having to worry about anything.
In fact, the smoke is managed thanks to a small flue, supplied, to be inserted on the top of the oven.
There are also mobile pizza ovens, which have no installation restrictions and offer ample freedom of movement.
Efficient
The best home pizza oven must guarantee excellent cooking results with minimum fuel consumption.
To this end, Alfa has developed the Forninox™ technology which enables to reach the high temperatures needed to cook fragrant pizzas, like the ones made in a pizzeria, while offering maximum energy efficiency and reduced consumption.
The reason being that the dome of the Alfa ovens, covered with a layer composed of different types of steel, combined with the refractory stone bed, allow the heat to be retained inside the cooking chamber.
Furthermore, in order to increase the thermal efficiency of its pizza ovens, Alfa has patented the Flue system™ technology.
This innovation consists of slowing down the smoke outflow from the combustion chamber so that it can release all its heat with a 50% higher efficiency than commercially available ovens.
Safe to use
A good home pizza oven must have a whole series of safety devices that are useful for safeguarding the people who use it.
This is why professional companies do not cut corners on investments in research and development and on components.
In addition to using quality materials for even the smallest of elements, Alfa installs a patented burner designed to guarantee high performance both in terms of cooking and safety.
Equipped with tailor-made accessories
A good oven is essential when cooking a Neapolitan style pizza, or in a pan like the one they make in restaurants. However, accessories that facilitate the use of the oven are also particularly useful .
Being able to count on a selection of tools to make pizza that is compatible with your home oven is a significant advantage.
How much a home pizza oven costs
Let’s conclude this article with one of the most frequently asked questions: “How much does a pizza-making oven cost?”
It is difficult to offer a straightforward answer, because the price of an oven is influenced by many factors such as:
- The quality of the materials used
- The technology implemented
- The size of the cooking chamber
- Attention to design
- Available Pizza Accessories
What is certain though is that by purchasing a quality ‘Made in Italy’ product you will have the certainty of being able to use a professional-performing pizza oven that can cook pizzas and tasty delicacies for numerous years.
